Hours had passed by, and the sun was in the middle of the sky, created a warmth throughout the the road. We drove along the dirt path, Shivara upfront driving, Marigold and I in the back.
It was nearing hours of telling Marigold of our story, and why Shivara and I were on the run.
Marigold raised an eyebrow at me, "Why'd you steal a lute? Couldn't you trade for it?"
"Well, I wanna be a bard, and bards usually have a, y'know, lute," I responded, "I stole it because Mrs. Birdyl doesn't do trades."
Shivara groaned, "Please don't become a bard, bards are so annoying."
I questioned her, "Weren't you a performer? Isn't that kinda like a bard?"
"I am a performer, never stopped being one, plus, there's a difference."
"What is it?" Marigold asked.
"Bards are annoying."
I attempted to object to this blasphemy, but suddenly, the goat came to a halt. Shivara turned to us, "We're here."
The town seemed very small, too small to even be considered a town, or be on any maps. There were a few shops and houses here and there, along with an inn.
"Shivara, how'd you even know this place was here?" I asked, "I don't think I've even heard of this place before."
She got a bit nervous at this question, " No reason, just had a feeling there was one nearby," She chuckled nervously, "I should - We should stay inconspicuous though, just in case."
I nodded, putting the hood of my cloak up. We quickly got out of the wagon.
"Twig, you and Marigold go get some food, as much as you can afford, I'll go see if I can get a room at the inn, got it?"
We both nodded and Shivara went off towards the inn.
Marigold leaned over and whispered, "Do you actually have any money?"
I shook my head and whispered back, "No, but maybe we could trade, I've got, like, four javelins."
Marigold looked me up and down, a little scared, "Where?" He exclaimed.
We came into the nearest store, "Ms and Mrs womanen's Weapons and Rations," and were greeted by a pleasant-looking orc woman.
"Hey there!" She smiled, "You folks gonna need help with anything?"
I nodded, "Yes, actually, do you happen to do trades?"
She thought for a moment, before turning around and shouting, "Hey, Ivynness!"
A half-elf woman peeked out from behind a couple of shelves and shouted back, "What is it, hun?"
"Do we do trades?"
"Sure, don't see why not," The half-elf shrugged.
The woman turned back around and calmly stated, "Yes, we do."
I pulled my javelins out of my cloak, "What could I get for these in terms of food?"
"Three javelins? Well - "
Three? I looked down at my hands, and there was, indeed, only three. I started searching for the fourth one, a bit panicked.
"- I would say about three pouches of rations"
Marigold spoke up, "What about six pouches? These are very good javelins, never been used."
The orc looked down at him, "Well, ain't you cute? How bout four and I throw in a dagger?"
He nodded, "Okay!"
I asked him, "Marigold, do you have my fourth javelin?"
He shook his head, taking the equipment in his tiny arms.
"Something's tellin' me you two aren't from around here," The woman said.
"Oh, we're a couple of travelers passing through," I told her, "How'd you know?"
"Well, this is the first bit 'o business my wife and I have gotten in a while, folks have been going missing left and right pretty much everywhere."
I asked, wondering if we should really stay in this town, "Has anyone been found?"
She shook her head, "Nope, not a single person. Didn't you see the posters outside?"
Confused, I exited the store, and my jaw dropped.
There were seemingly hundreds of missing posters, rows upon rows, layers upon layers.
And somehow not one has been found.
All of them.
Missing.
YOU ARE READING
Coven of Outcasts (Book one - Four Broken Pieces)
Fantasy"A sorceress that does cheap magic tricks, a thief without an arm, a druid scared of anything bigger than a rat, and a bard that couldn't carry a tune in a bag of holding - " "- What a terrible group of heroes." In the first book of a Dungeons & Dra...
